


To Fall on Your Sword

by Korpuskat



Series: Do not stand at my grave and weep [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: All hurt no comfort, Angst, Force Ghosts, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-02-23
Packaged: 2018-05-22 18:29:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6090079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Korpuskat/pseuds/Korpuskat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snoke takes control of the Republic.</p><p>Kylo is the first to die.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Fall on Your Sword

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [To Fall on Your Sword](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6301015) by [DisneySucks (Alucard1771)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alucard1771/pseuds/DisneySucks)



Kylo dies first. 

He watches his own red, crackling blade be driven into him. For the first time in his life- as he lay dying- he doesn’t feel any pain. He watches, as though it were a dream, as the scavenger takes his place beside the Supreme Leader- and Snoke takes the place of General Organa.

It was always his long game, Kylo supposed, to rule everything. Not by force, not through the Order, but through political shrewdness that Kylo could never hope to achieve. He’d been too blinded by his own goals to see it; he was always a pawn under Snoke’s thumb, he was not under any illusion, but Kylo had always believed he’d ultimately come out on top in the final battle. As he lay dying Kylo feels the tug at the Force- the same one he’s known all his life- but no longer is it ripping him apart from the inside out. It’s finally at peace. And Kylo closes his eyes. 

Kylo wakes to stand over his own body, strangely distant from the scene before him. Why should he bother to care now? He was dead. Everyone he ever cared for- on either side of the war- would be joining him soon enough. The scavenger takes a knee before his Master. Kylo turns away.

He can feel, elsewhere in the world, an order has been placed for Hux’s arrest. In the merging Empire/Republic, there will be no space for war criminals. Any resulting trial- if there even is one- will be a farce, a public humiliation for the General. He wants to tell Hux to run, that if he runs far enough to the Outter Rim he’s be safe, but how can he? Hux knows nothing of the Force- doubts it whenever its power is not being explicitly shown to him. Kylo can’t bring himself to watch if Hux escapes or not.

As it turns out, being dead has its advantages. Now that he was a part of the Force he could feel exactly where his Uncle was- an uncharted planet he’d never have found without that map. Kylo doesn’t reveal himself, but he knows Luke must already know that the balance has shifted. Leia definitely knows- Kylo can feel her grief, but he can’t quite manage to seek her out yet. If there was a way Kylo could speak with Hux- just, just _one_ last time- Luke or Leia would know it. But he can’t bring himself to ask them. He’s ruined their lives, destroyed everything they held dear. There is no forgiveness for him, not even in death.

Kylo can feel others in the Force- the Jedi and Sith who came before him. He wonders if he will finally meet his namesake, if he will be able to look his grandfather in the eye knowing Kylo has failed _again_. Will it be better or worse watching his mother be taken as a political prisoner? 

He feels it when the manacles lock around Hux’s thin wrists. He’s there in an instant. Were he corporeal he’d slay anyone who dared touch Hux, rip the metal off Hux’s skin and take him and flee as far as they could. It didn’t matter where, not anymore. But he isn’t. There is no lightsaber attached to his belt, there is no physical change he can produce in the world. So he can only watch as Hux is calmly-- how can he be so calm? Why isn’t he fighting this? Why won’t he do _anything_?-- lead to a shuttle that will take him to his prison.

In his cell Hux’s mind is empty. Hollowed out by a crushing defeat, a betrayal he had seen coming but could not prevent. They at least left him his uniform, which Hux notes probably means they don’t intend to keep him very long. Kylo would love to prove him wrong. 

Hux lays on his bed and recites old sections of military stratagem he’d memorized in the academy. He thinks, briefly, of how he could get out of this mess, but stops abruptly. He has to reason to escape. Everything has been taken from him, there is nothing in the galaxy left for him outside of the fate the “Republic” assigns for him.

Kylo sits beside him and strokes at his hair- the ginger strands not moving at all beneath his fingers. He wishes he could Force-persuade Hux to change his mind, to pursue his escape as steadfastly as he knows the General could. He lays a kiss to Hux’s forehead and waits. 

 

The execution is public. Of course it is, Hux is a god damn _icon_ of the First Order. It was his face attached to the machine that destroyed five worlds, destroyed the very heart of the Republic. There was never any chance for his escape. 

The Republic decided for his savage acts he should die by a savage means. The chemicals that are used for any other prisoner are left shut away in some undertaker’s broom closet. It’s the rope, they decide.

Hux thinks of Kylo. Thinks of Kylo’s tantrums where he Force-choked personnel for little reward; he thinks of Kylo’s hand pressed against his throat while they’re joined, how intimate it is that Hux can somehow trust Kylo not to kill him, at least not before he finishes. 

Hux thinks it’s fitting. 

The masked man lowers the rope around Hux’s neck. Hux declines the blindfold. He decides to stare into the crowds that have ordained his death. The man beside him- a priest of some sort, of some religion Hux has never bought into- begins to read some blessing. And Hux thinks of Kylo.

_Sorry I made you wait for me._

_No,_ Kylo thinks. _No, no, no, you damn fool_. He screams, he wants to grab Hux and shake him. _I’m not there. I don’t know where you will go when you die, but I’m not there. You can’t--_ please, _no, Hux._

He’s crying and he's on his knees, staring up at the man before him, proud to his last breath and Kylo is begging the world to grant him just one mercy. Just let Hux live. Just this one thing. Kylo has paid so dearly for all his other sins, why couldn’t Hux be free of his stain? 

Kylo thinks he’s dying again as he watches the floor drop from under the General- watching this is more painful than death. Kylo thinks that in all the injustice in the world, this is the one thing he will never be able forgive for as long as he lives, and he will live forever in the Force. Kylo thinks, perhaps, it would have been better if he hadn’t awoken in the Force at all, if he’d just stopped existing when his blade killed him. 

Hux thinks of Kylo.


End file.
